At its core, my Rapid PT program is built upon sports nutrition, Paleo and traditional diet theory, and Paleo lifestyle research. Fueled by my own curiosity, my personal diet and lifestyle philosophy have been influenced by several years of intense research, which has radically changed my understanding of how the human body performs.
Like many people in the military I struggled with my PT test. After the cycle test was replaced by the 1.5-mile run, I had to run for the first time since Basic. I worked out at the gym religiously (lifting weights), so I knew that my push-ups, sit-ups, and waist measurements would all be good. As for the run, I thought I could just show up without any preparation and blow the run out of the water. Of course, that’s not what happened: I labored to complete the 1.5-mile run in a blazing 13:59 (at the age of 27!). This experience was so thoroughly unpleasant that I started to do some research into how I could improve my run times. I wasn’t prepared for what I uncovered (and am still uncovering).
I started with nutrition, which I thought would be fairly straight-forward (it’s the 21st Century after all), but I quickly discovered that living underneath the simple official narrative of proper nutrition was a community of skeptical investigators all searching for a better understanding of what a truly healthy diet—one that minimizes disease—looks like. As I followed these investigators I came to understand more about how poor nutrition drives diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. It also impacts physical fitness potential.
With my curiosity awakened, I devoured as much information as I could for about three years, reading more than 100 books that covered health, nutrition, and fitness. And that doesn't even count the hundreds of articles I've read online. It took a while, but I started to see a pattern in the noise.
As I was gathering data I would test my new-found knowledge on myself. The first thing I noticed was a lower body-fat percentage, then increased strength, and finally a more athletic physique. On the track, my run times started to improve. Before I knew it, I had clocked an official time of 11:24. While this wasn’t a blazingly fast run time, I had managed to reduce my run time by more than two minutes. More importantly, my training program allowed me to get PT scores in the 90s with relatively little effort.
At some point, I wondered why the Air Force didn't have an official training program that guaranteed 90s on the PT test. They often argue (rightfully) that the USAF needs to be fit to fight because we might be embedded with Army or Marine units. However, for whatever reason, the USAF doesn't seem to consider PT the same as an Airman's job training. This means that Air Force members are largely on their own when it comes to training to pass their PT test. So, I decided to change that by creating this Rapid PT Program blog.
Because I have so little extra time to devote to exhausting and elaborate training programs, my objective was always to create a simple, flexible, easy-to-follow plan that would help anyone get an Excellent on their PT test. The result of my research and experimentation is the program you are about to start. And, although some of the changes I talk about may seem hard at first (especially the dietary changes), collectively they will allow you to make HUGE improvements in your PT test score in a very short amount of time.
Most importantly, if you always use this program to prepare for your future PT tests, you’ll likely never struggle with your PT test ever again!
Bryan Mayo